Lovers of Science
by Tazz Dieudonne
Summary: What will happen when Tony gets Bruce to stay with him after the battle? Science bros fluff. Six small chapters written on a whim. Bruce/Tony.
1. Chapter 1

Lovers of Science

The recently de-Hulked Bruce Banner followed bashfully behind Tony in to Stark tower. He needed a new change of cloths badly and Stark had volunteered. He passed the devastation sheepishly.

"I wouldn't want to ruin any of your expensive clothes." Bruce said as Tony threw him a pair of jeans and a button down shirt.

"If you plan on ruining them you'll ruin them." Tony replied. "Your not going to go out there naked are you?"

"Thanks." Bruce blushed and quickly exited the room to change. The clothes fit nicely. They smelled fresh and clean. Bruce sighed as the soft brush of the material embraced him.

"They look good on you." Tony commented when Bruce appeared again.

"What should I do with my old clothes?" Bruce asked holding the muddy torn shorts.

"I would suggest incineration." Tony smirked. It took Bruce a moment to realize it was a joke. Then he began to chuckle.

"Thanks." He said again.

"Don't worried about it." Tony vowed to make Bruce laugh more often. "Lets not keep the rest of the team waiting." Together they stepped out of the wreckage of Stark Tower.


	2. Chapter 2

The team took one last look at each other after Thor and Loki left. Then they went their separate ways.

Tony got in to his car with the full intent to drink himself silly the moment he got home. Bruce approached the car, nervous as usual.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about your...um...tower."

"Where are you going to go?"

"Some place far away that's for sure."

"Hey look I need a lot of help rebuilding Stark Tower thought you might spend a little longer in the city." Tony said casually. It took Bruce off guard.

"With me around there might be more destruction then rebuilding." He smiled his sad smile.

"Look I'm asking you, one of the most brilliant men I know, to join me in science wander-land and your worried about getting to excited?" Tony raised his eyebrows. "Come on I know you have no place to stay."

Banner hesitated fidgeting with his shirt.

"You've already been so kind..."

"Don't make me pull out the 'you own me' card." Tony Stark warned. He wanted Bruce and he was going to get him. The word disappointment was not in his vocabulary. Bruce ran his hands through his dark curly hair. He rubbed his palms together. He looked around and finally sighed. Bruce got in to the car, looking at Tony with that worried look he usually had on his face. As if he was a ticking time bomb not knowing when he could explode. Witch was actually a fairly accurate analogy for Bruce, Tony thought.

"Hold on!" Tony shouted as he started the engine. Bruce took his advice, quickly buckling his seat belt, clamping his hands around the seat. Tony could see that Bruce was tense by the position he was sitting in. But as the cars motion became more familiar Bruce relaxed and managed a weak smile.

"How fast does this thing go?"

"Wana find out?" Tony put on his sunglasses and stepped on the gas.


	3. Chapter 3

"I wish I could ask you witch room you wanted but there is only one bed left." Tony lead the reluctant doctor in to his room.

"I could just sleep on the couch." Bruce suggested.

"The bed's big enough for two. It was built for more" Tony smiled.

Bruce remembered that Tony Stark was a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist and blushed at the implied thought. "It is the most comfortable bed you will ever sleep in."

"I'd hate for the other guy to reck it as well."

"Oh Bruce..." Tony flung his hands up exasperated. "What will we do with you? Your a bundle of nerves. You need to get out more. See the sights of NewYork, hit a club or two."

"You want me in an underground privet club surrounded by people, drinking?"

"No I want you having the time of your life dancing with some pretty little miss and getting as drunk as posable."

"That sounds like you not me."

"Come on Bruce were's your sense of adventure!" Tony slung his arms around Bruce's shoulder. Bruce tried not to shy away from his touch.

"I lost it a long time ago. Many injured and a few dead along with it." Bruce had a far away look in his eyes, pain as well. As if pain and sorrow took root in the very soul of his being grew, thrived and blocked out all else.

"Your going to sleep in that bed." Tony said forcefully steering the subject back to something less painful.

Bruce stared at Tony then smiled that sad sad smile. "You win." Tony smirked hearing his favorite words. He walked towards the bed and then as if just thinking of it he turned back.

"Don't I always."


	4. Chapter 4

Bruce awoke. At first it took a moment for him to figure out he was in Stark tower. The bed was comfortable he thought to himself as he fell deeper in to the warmth. Then the thing that woke him up for the first time disturbed him again. Bruce opened his eyes and to his surprise Tony was lying next to him. They had started out on opposite sides of the enormous bed but now Tony curled next to him. Tony shifted again removing his hand from poking Bruce in the ribs.

Bruce sighed. He sat up and rubbed his head. How was he going to deal with this? Bruce had been aware of his rising feelings for Tony since they first met. "And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." It was the voice that said those words that had haunted him in his dreams the next night. He wasn't sure what to think of Tony. Poking him and trying to provoke him in ways nobody who knew what he was would, ever would have done. But as they fell in to a pattern working side by side for the same cause Bruce began to forget that he had been dragged here to save humanity not to enjoy a mind as brilliant as his own.

Then he had had another 'incident'. He had come too in a pile of rubble. His first thoughts were of Tony. Was he okay? Was he alive? The next time they saw each other there wasn't much time for talk. Bruce had let the other guy out on purpose. His last thoughts before he woke again were. If you hurt Tony I will find a way to destroy us. Somehow they had all survived and Bruce was informed that the Hulk had been helpful. In fact he had saved Tony's life. Had the Hulk heard him?

Bruce sighed. Whatever had happened, the Hulk's response had been the deciding factor in him coming here. His love for science and the passion in which he was able to do it around Tony had been pulling him towards Stark Tower. But his ever present awareness that he could suddenly find himself killing the very people he loved made the argument for leaving. The fact that he might have feelings deeper than friendship for Tony had been a neutral factor. He refused to let it decide things. That's how Bruce was, calculating. It was numbers and figures that made sense to him.

Bruce turned to Tony and fell back in to bed. He wandered how long it would take to find another place to sleep; he hoped it would take a long time. Bruce turned to face the man next to him. He fell asleep in the soft glow of the Arc reactor.


	5. Chapter 5

Tony awoke to the full glare of the sun. He groaned and buried his head deeper in to the many blankets. Then suddenly he was completely awake. He sniffed the air. Bacon and eggs, he thought. Tony jumped up and followed his nose to the kitchen. There's only one thing that will get a tired Stark out of bed, food. Tony walked sleepily in to the brightly lit kitchen to find Bruce in an apron frying eggs and humming. He leaned agents the door way watching the doctor glisten in the morning sunlight. Tony quirked a smile as he studied the usually tense Bruce, who now seem completely at peace with the world.

Bruce turned around preparing to set the table and found Tony standing there, he nearly dropped the plates he was holding in surprise.

"Good morning." Tony said as if it was perfectly normal to just be standing there,

"Good morning." Bruce replied and gathering himself he managed to put the plates on the table without knocking anything over. That's when he noticed that Tony was only wearing his boxers, nothing else. Bruce tried not to stare at Tony's bare chest and legs. There was a lot to look at.

"You look fabulous in that apron by the way." Tony said as he slid in to his seat seemingly unaware of Bruce's direct stare. In reality Tony was trying hard not to remark on it. "How did you know that I liked bacon and eggs every morning?"

"Pepper said that you would like them." Bruce shrugged. "She had an urgent meeting and couldn't cook before she left."

"Thanks." Tony said as Bruce passed him a plate and sat down at the counter with him.

"She instructed me to not let you cook under penalty of death."

"I burnt down the house last time." He explained taking his seat. Tony wolfed down the food in a matter of seconds. Bruce raised his eye brows at the feat and Tony stole a piece of his bacon. They both laughed and spent the remainder of the meal in comfortable silence. Bruce totally oblivious to Tony's stare.


	6. Chapter 6

Let me show you the gadgets!" Tony eagerly opened the door to his lab. Bruce walked in after him and stood in wander at all the machinery and tools Tony had crammed in to the place. Currently everything was a huge mess. The whole lab look like it had been torn apart and was still in the process of being put back together. Tony showed him around, bouncing from one heap to the next like a 12 year old on a field trip.

"I've been working on a type of shield for the tower. Like a net of electricity protecting the tower. That's the easy part. Getting it so that the Iron Man suit can pass through it is the hard part. Here take a look at these calculations. If we can get the force field at a specific intensity we might not have to rebuild the whole suit to fit the wave length." Tony stood proudly chattering on and on about frequencies of light and sound. Bruce would point a mistake out and Tony would say "I knew that."

Soon they were sitting side by side fidgeting with the same gadget. Tony enjoyed bouncing is crazy ideas off of Bruce. Sometimes he would be joking sometimes serious. It always took Bruce a moment to realize that he was kidding about and antigravity kitchens because some of Tony's serious ideas were just as crazy. When Bruce catches on to a joke he laughs. The laugh sounds so natural, unforced, and it is one of the only times Bruce seems truly happy. Tony enjoys his laugh and as the day progresses he jokes more then he normally does.

Tony watched Bruce, although Bruce was to intent on his work to notice. Science was Bruce's escape Tony decided. Bruce never seemed worried about the Hulk when he was intent on working out a problem. His glasses sometimes slid down his nose and Bruce would push them back up. His hands, working on a gadget, looked coarse and work worn but possessed grace and agility that Tony had never seen before in Bruce.

Bruce would take off his glasses often and put them back on. He fidgeted with his hair when he made calculations. He bit his lower lip when he was frustrated. He got up and stretched whenever he had a major breakthrough. It was amazing how much you got to know someone without words.

Occasionally Bruce would look up and ask Tony for advice or/ and opinion on something. Tony would suddenly be snapped out of his Bruce daze and have to refocus. He would go back to his work for a little while but eventually his eyes wandered again to Bruce. Was this love?

The End


End file.
